The large caliber machine guns are intended to engage air targets and soft-skin ground targets. The Cal. 12.7-15mm allows to have in the ammunition load the powerful cartridge with armor-piercing, armor piercing-incendiary and other bullets. This ensures the engagement of ground targets of 15-20 mm thick at ranges of up to 800 m, and the fire means, manpower and air targets at ranges of up to 2,000 m. The effective rate of fire of the large caliber machine guns constitutes up to 100 rounds per minutes in bursts.
The large caliber machine guns eventually reinforce the fire system in all types of combat. The air defense large caliber machine guns are widely used for air defense of subunits. Such machine guns are mounted on tanks, armored personnel carriers and infantry combat vehicles. Thus, the large caliber machine guns constitute the most effective type of small arms in terms of defeat of ground and air targets and among other things it is less mobile type of weapon. Nevertheless, they still excite interest of users. This is explained by their "long range fire ability" that allows them to deliver fire against the vital pin-point targets, including snipers, machine guns crew emplaced in shelters and crews of fire means and hostile air threats.
The mostly widely used in the world are two old versions that is the Cal. 12.7mm Soviet DShK and the American M2HB "Browning" (chambered for a less powerful cartridge). The ease of operation or mobility of the large caliber machine guns is restricted by their large size and weight. These machine guns are installed on the universal or special (ground or air defence mounts) field mounts. The large caliber machine guns with the universal mounts weigh 140-160 kg and with the light ground mount weigh 40-55 kg. However, the advent of the more lightened large caliber machine guns, including the Russian NSV-12.7 and "KORD", the Singapore "CIS MG50" neared them to general-purpose machine guns on mounts in terms of their mobility and camouflage. It should be noted here that the attempts are being made from year to year to replace the large caliber machine guns with the 20-30mm light automatic cannons. However, it is rather difficult to develop sufficiently light (with regard to the weight of the weapon, mount and the ammunition load) and mobile versions. So far, light army vehicles and light helicopters are armed with such cannons.
